


There Is No Celery In The Side Salad, Sir

by ScarletAnpan



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: 12 qts of lemonade is very heavy, Chick-fil-a, F/F, Fluff, Helen is a bitch, Please don’t ask, customers are little bitches, fast food au, kyoko is just done with life, taeko wants to die, understaffing is a problem
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2019-11-14 13:44:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18053609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletAnpan/pseuds/ScarletAnpan
Summary: Kyoko is a shift leader and Taeko is a team member. They both work at Chick-Fil-A. General chaos and celesgiri ensues. I have no excuse for what I’ve written.(Non-Hope's Peak AU.)





	1. Drink-Making

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hina and Taeko learn drinks.

2 P.M. The restaurant buzzed lightly with noise as the lunch rush calmed down, putting everything in a period of recovery. As Taeko walked through the front door, fully dressed in a red polo, black pants and shoes, an employee called out “Hello, welcome!” without looking to see she wasn’t a customer. The restaurant was full but not very busy anymore, a stage of controlled chaos, but the black-haired girl decided to ignore it for now. She made a beeline for the front counter, and then into the back of the store. As she walked past the salad prep area, she saw another person in the same outfit.

“Hey Taeko!” It was Hina, a coworker that started with Taeko. The two were only about a week into training since they began working at Chick-Fil-A.

“You’re here early,” was all Taeko could reply. Hina beamed at her.

“Yeah! I just got so excited I left the house too early... I’ve already been standing around for like ten minutes!”

“You got excited?” Taeko raised a brow. “That’s surprising.”

“Well, I say that, but really I think I was just scared to be late.”

“Ah.” Hina looked down at the watch about her wrist.

“When do you work until?”

“Um… 8:30.”

“Oh really? I’m the same! I wonder if we’ll be learning anything new today…”

“Most likely. The schedule says we start at 2:03.”

“Oh, that’s true.” Hina glanced back down at her watch. “And it’s 2:02! Time to go!” Hina ran off to the front and Taeko blinked, placing down any belongings in the break room and following her. As they broke into the front, the chaos of the store came back to mind, as coworkers smiled and said hi, and they washed their hands and clocked in. Immediately a manager presented tablets to the both of them, and sent them outside. Hina and Taeko sat down at a table far from the entrance, and began reading through their training for the day. They would be learning how to make drinks.

“I didn’t even know there were this many desserts and drinks here!” Hina exclaimed.

“...I do hope we’re not supposed to remember how to make all of these.”

* * *

Once they finished training, they went back inside together and returned the tablets. The manager told them to wait for a minute, and exactly sixty seconds later, a different woman walked up to them. She wore a red plaid short-sleeved button-up with grey pants. She had long icy purple hair, put up in a braided bun, her eyes matching that same color. She had a tablet in hand and stared at both of them for half of a second.

“I’m Kyoko,” she introduced. “I’m a shift leader, and I’ll be training you on drinks today.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Hina!”

“...I’m Taeko.” Kyoko watched both of them before nodding.

“Follow me to the drive-through.” Kyoko walked off and they followed past the front counter, as she scrolled through the tablet. She stopped once they reached a machine. “Alright. What you’re going to be doing today is drinks in the drive-through. We’ll start with desserts. This is the ice cream machine. The one we have is a three-lever machine. The middle is for cones, the two sides are for milkshakes and frosted desserts…” Taeko and Hina nodded along and listened intently as Kyoko thoroughly explained the machine and how to make each and every dessert on the menu. In the drive-through, an order came up for a milkshake, so Kyoko did the honor of showing them how to make it. However, Taeko realized she had been focusing more on Kyoko than the drinks themselves the entire time. There was just something about... maybe her eyes? Her demeanor? She was intriguing. “The next car needs one too. Who wants to try making one?”

“Uh… I don’t know…” Hina said worriedly.

“That’s fine. Taeko?” The girl snapped out of staring at the shift leader’s arms and jumped.

“H-Huh? Yes.”

“Alright, then. Large chocolate shake, no cherry.” Taeko blinked, realizing she had agreed entirely to something she wasn’t prepared for, but nodded, grabbing a cup. Kyoko stared at her, only because she was assuring Taeko made it correctly, but Taeko felt herself being stabbed by her gaze as she reached up to pour shake base into the cup. She could barely reach the lever because it was above the ice cream machine. Afterward, she stepped down and went blank.

“...uh…”

“Chocolate,” Kyoko said. Taeko looked at her and locked eyes for half a second, entranced before she heard Kyoko.

“Oh, yes, of course…” Once she added the chocolate she looked at the ice cream machine and prayed silently that she didn’t completely and utterly screw the next task up.

“You want to try to get the ice cream on the side, and circle around the cup to fill it,” Kyoko explained. Taeko nodded and did exactly so, sighing a bit in relief before putting a top on the shake and spinning it with the machine. “That looks good. All you need is whipped cream now.” Taeko nodded and opened the dessert fridge, grabbing the whipped cream and adding it. “Just place it over there by the window.”

“Wow, good job Taeko!” Hina said. Taeko returned with a frown.

“That was more stressful than it needed to be.”

“I know,” Kyoko said. “Drinks are going to be difficult at first, especially because you have to know how to make all of the different types, and desserts take added time.”

“How are we going to remember all of them?” Hina asked.

“...practice. It’ll be second nature eventually.”

“Eventually…” Taeko murmured, still flustered from the event. She closed her eyes for half a second, just glad that she didn’t mess up too badly in front of Kyoko.

But she spoke too soon, and immediately following that ruined at least three ice cream cones. And then had to throw away each cone and wash the guilt of wasted ice cream off of her hands. It wasn’t horrible because Hina did drop an entire large ice cream cone on the ground. Kyoko just stared the entire time and told them mistakes happen, before explaining the process again. And to top it all off, they were saddled with the news that they would be taking over drinks for the current drink maker, and would be doing so for the rest of their shift. Hina was just a little worried, but Taeko wanted to die. Especially because Kyoko would be behind them the whole time, bagging food for the drive-through.

Which meant that she experienced the current biggest mistake of Taeko’s drink-making career: adding too much coffee base to the frosted coffee. As she went to spin it, what was basically liquid flew out of the cup and 50% of the frosted coffee was on her, and the other 50% was all over the drive-through floor. Kyoko stared at her in genuine concern, but all Taeko could feel was disappointment.


	2. Lemonades and Sauces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taeko gets used to the regular tasks while working on the front counter, with the help of Kyoko.

It had been a week since Taeko had started POS, the register, the most important part of training at the store. She had gotten the hang of it, and it was currently non-peak hour, so all there was to do was stock and clean the front counter, what with the lack of customers. She was on front with Chihiro and Kyoko, who was actually in the drive-through, but helped take orders if it got busy. Taeko had been put in charge of stocking the fridges, and Chihiro was put in charge of teas and lemonades.

“Hey Taeko?”

“Yes?” Chihiro stood by the lemonade dispenser, with a 12 qt container of lemonade on the counter next to him.

“Can you pour lemonades?” Taeko thought back to those two days of training on drinks.

“Of course I can pour lemonades. Did you need me to?”

“Please. I’m not quite strong enough to lift it.”

“Here, I’ll take care of it.”

“Thank you!” Taeko nodded, closing the fridge and walking over to the counter, as Chihiro went back to stocking elsewhere. She quickly reached up and lifted the top off of the lemonade dispenser, before placing a hand on each handle of the container. She thought back to the exact technique for holding it and grabbed it, before lifting it up. As it turns out, twelve quarts is a lot of lemonade. And the top of the dispenser was taller than her. So as Taeko began to lift the container it grew heavier, and her arms shook slightly. That slight shake caused an uproar in the lemonade container, as it sloshed back and forth just a little too much, and a good portion of the lemonade exited said container. And spilled on Taeko. And when you’re suddenly covered in lemonade, you become startled enough to make the container shake more. And then there was more lemonade on Taeko. She realized that holding something so heavy wasn’t a good idea anymore and placed what was left of the lemonade down, stepping back and seeing that half of it got all over the counter, her clothes, and the floor.

“...fuck.”

“T-taeko?” Chihiro said, turning around and realizing the mess. Within seconds Kyoko materialized from the drive-through, and successfully poured the rest of the lemonade in the dispenser for her.

“There. Are you alright?” Taeko was speechless, and just stared at her ruined polo. “Here, take some paper towels and dry off in the back. It gets sticky rather quick.”

“...thank you,” was all Taeko said before disappearing. That would be the first and last time she offered to do anything related to refilling drink dispensers. The smell of lemonade haunted her shirt all day until she could finally go home and wash away her regrets.

* * *

“Taeko, can I have you grab us some more polynesian sauce?” A shift leader asked.

“Sure thing.” Taeko, who was given the job of tasking, stood up from stocking and left to the back of the restaurant. She found the shelf of sauces and looked up and down. Polynesian was the least popular sauce, so it wasn’t easy to find. Finally, she saw it. It was on a higher shelf. Immediately she frowned. “Of course it’s up there…” With a sigh, she walked up to the shelf and reached up as far as she could. Surprisingly, she could touch the bottom of the box. She let her arms down for just half a second, to see if anyone was around, and then reached back up and started inching it out from the shelf. She smiled a bit in satisfaction; she didn’t need any help. She finally pulled it out enough and the box began tilting. She went to grab it and successfully placed one hand on the right side. But her left hand slipped, and within an instant a thirty pound box of sauce began to fall towards her head. In a hurry she flew to stop it but—

“Oh.” Two arms reached out from behind her and were suspending the box in midair. They belonged to Kyoko. “Be careful. These are heavier than they seem.” She lowered the box down and handed it to Taeko.

“Thank you,” Taeko said with a sigh, glad that she hadn’t just sustained brain damage from an excessive amount of polynesian sauce. She also wondered just where did Kyoko come from, but decided not to question it.

“If you need help just let me know. Or anyone else nearby. The kitchen staff are nicer than they seem.” Kyoko smiled at her. For the first time, very softly. Taeko felt weak.

“R-right.”

 


	3. Trashes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyoko asks Taeko to take drive-through and front counter trash.

3:37 P.M. Taeko walked about the dining room, cleaning and stocking to make sure the dining room looked decent, and wasn’t as much of a hassle later on. As she swept pass the front counter, a voice lifted her head.

“Taeko?” It belonged to Kyoko, who stood at the edge of the counter with a clipboard. “Can I have you take front counter and drive-through trashes?” Taeko groaned, but only on the inside.

“Oh yes, of course.”

“Thank you.” Taeko immediately left to store away her apron and the broom, pulling on gloves and dragging both trash cans to the back of the store. She quickly found a roll of trash bags and pulled out four, setting them aside. As she began tying up the trash cans, Leon ran by with a 12 qt of lemonade. Taeko tried to not have a reaction to the sight of the container and went back to her work. She pulled out the trash bags and pushed the door that led to the dumpster open. But the trash container, that usually held a days worth of trash bags and was dumped by the kitchen staff, was missing. Taeko blinked, double-took, and then walked back into the back of the store, where Leon was nearby, making another batch of lemonade.

“Leon? Do you happen to know where the trash can container is?”

“Oh, that? It broke. We’re getting a new one so we gotta throw stuff straight in the dumpster for now. Err…. the key should be hanging by the door.” He jerked his head in the direction of the back door.

“Right, thank you.” Taeko sighed inside and grabbed said key, stuffing it into her pocket, and grabbing both bags. “Trash truly is the worst job…” she murmured quietly to herself, as she carried the bags on the path towards the dumpster. Once in front of the giant metal doors, Taeko unlocked them and opened it, greeted by the unpleasantly dirty air. She wrinkled her nose and looked up at the dumpster, which had one door open. She grabbed the trash bag in her right arm and threw it up into the dumpster. She then did so with the other bag and sighed. She closed the door as she left and went to lock the door but—

“...where is the key?” Taeko went quiet, and then groaned. She opened the door back and looked around. It wasn’t on the ground where she was standing. Maybe it was… “Please don’t tell me I threw it in the dumpster with the trash.” She searched the ground helplessly once more, her results recovering nothing. “...I’m not going in there.” But no matter how hard she looked around, they were nowhere to be found. “Dammit. I’ll look. That’s it…” Taeko saw the stack of cardboard right next to the dumpster, and begrudgingly used it as a step, where she then looked into the dumpster. Everything in her physically recoiled at the sight. She could feel Celestia Ludenberg decaying inside of her like the heaps of trash bags she saw. Unluckily, it was dark and half of the trash bags were black. She squinted and looked around more and more. At the back of the dumpster she thought she could see something. She leaned over as much as she could without touching the dumpster with anything besides her gloves, and soon realized a mistake.

The stack of cardboard was not stable. As she leaned over the cardboard slid back, and from under her.

“What the—!?” Before Taeko could finish she began falling forward, and too confused to even understand what was happening, she fell directly into the dumpster. She landed on top of the trash bags, luckily have shielded her face from the impact. No soon as she was inside did she immediately sit up, looking around wildly, almost unable to comprehend what just happened. She wanted to scream. “T-this is so… so disgusting! Oh my god, how did I fall in the fucking dumpster…?” She shuddered and immediately attempted to stand to her feet, under the shifting trash bags. She looked at her uniform, which wasn’t stained at all, but she was still surrounded by trash bags. Her repulsion couldn’t be described.

When she was stable, she made her best attempt to walk over to the ledge of the dumpster. Once there, she realized how high it was. She didn’t exactly have the strength to pull herself out of the dumpster, proven by an attempt to do so. There was nothing else to help her up, besides trash bags, which kept shifting and falling to the bottom of the dumpster. And there wasn’t a single way in hell she would spend time playing with trash bags. She grumbled loudly.

“Way to go, Taeko…”

She wondered if this was how she would die. In a dumpster in the back of Chick-Fil-A.

* * *

Up front, Kyoko was standing at the manager’s podium, staring at the clipboard and deciding how to run the dinner shift. She mentally checked off each task she needed done around various parts of the store, while dealing with the occasional guests and discussing tasks with other shift leaders. She had finished the set-up and began bagging when the drink-maker spilled some of the shake they went to make. As they cleaned up the mess they went to throw and napkins away.

“What? Where’s the trash can?”

“Taeko’s taking them,” Kyoko answered.

“Oh, yeah. Where is she? It’s been like twenty minutes.”

“Has it?” Kyoko glanced at the time on the monitor. “What is taking her…?” she murmured. She frowned and thought about the task. Taeko is usually never slow with trashes, because she hates doing them so much she wants to spend as little time with the task as possible. She should’ve just thrown them in the dumpster, right? Unless… “Oh no. I have to check something.” Kyoko walked off as quick as she could, into the back of the store. She passed Leon, who was on his second batch of lemonades. “Have you seen Taeko?”

“Yeah, she was running trashes.” Kyoko glanced at the back door, which was still open. “Is she still doing it? Shoot, maybe she needed help getting it in the dumpster.”

“It’s fine. I’ll handle it. Thank you, Leon,” Kyoko said, leaving through the back door. She followed the path down to the dumpster and saw the door was left opened. She turned the corner and saw there was no one standing in the room. “Taeko?” Kyoko walked over to the dumpster and heard a shuffling. Soon, Taeko’s head peeked up over the top of the dumpster.

“K-Kyoko?” She stared in surprise, relief, but mostly horror. Kyoko found her in a dumpster. She was more than embarrassed. But Kyoko simply frowned in concern.

“Are you alright?” Taeko grimaced, red in the face.

“Yes, I’m quite fine, thank you…”

“What are you doing in there?”

“I… was looking for the dumpster keys. I believe I’ve lost them.”

“Ah… are you stuck?”

“No, I can get out,” she said, frowning. “I’ve just been searching thoroughly.”

“I’m impressed. It’s been twenty minutes.” Taeko grumbled and Kyoko walked around, checking the ground. “You truly can’t find them in the dumpster?”

“I’m afraid not.”

“I see…” Kyoko continued to investigate, before there was a spark in her eye sight. She turned and walked towards it, finding something in the crease of the dumpster door. Kyoko reached down and heard the sound of metal. She picked up the keys.

“Was that the keys?” Taeko asked, hearing the sound of them echo in the room.

“Yes, they were near the hinge of the door. It’s an odd spot.” Taeko groaned. “At least we found them.” Kyoko walked back over to the dumpster, and Taeko stared at her, awkwardly frowning. “Just let me help you out.”

“...fine.” Kyoko fixed the fallen stack of cardboard and stepped onto it. She didn’t need the extra height, but it helped as she reached over and grabbed Taeko by the waist, lifting her up.

“Hey, what the—!?” Taeko would normally physically struggle in such situations, but out of fear of being dropped, she instinctively curled up for a moment, as Kyoko lifted her over the dumpster and placed her down on her feet. “I-I didn’t think you’d pick me up like that! Warn me next time…”

“Oh. I’m sorry.” Kyoko frowned for a moment, before stepping down from the boxes. Taeko escaped the room as fast as she could and Kyoko followed, locking the door behind them.

“I may be wrong, but I never saw you as the sort of person to be willing to climb into a dumpster. Was that an accident?” Taeko frowned and looked away.

“...yes. I was only going to look inside.”

“I thought so, because the cardboard was scattered all over the floor. I forgot that the trash container was broken. I’m sorry for sending you out here.”

”You didn’t push me in there, you know,” Taeko huffed. “It’s not your fault, and... I’ve been in worse places.”

”Oh? I don’t know if that should be relieving or concerning.” Kyoko cracked a smile for just a moment, recieving a grumble in response.

* * *

Once back inside, Taeko washed her hands at least ten times, still utterly horrified at being inside a dumpster. She had stayed in there long enough for her shift to end, so as soon as she dried her hands, Kyoko clocked her out.

“Thank you for today. Small dessert of your choice.”

“What?”

“I’m responsible for you being in the dumpster for twenty minutes,” she said with a frown. “You deserve a treat.” Taeko wanted to argue that she was the fool that thought stacked cardboard was in any way stable, but Kyoko seemed genuinely a bit guilty about the event.

“I… thank you, Kyoko.”

“Of course.” Taeko walked to the back of the store and gathered her things. As she returned to the front and stepped into the dining room, Kyoko stopped her. “Taeko?”

“Yes?” She held out a small bag towards her.

“A cookie, right?” Taeko stared, remembering that Kyoko had great intuition and an incredible memory.

“Yes. Thank you.” The shift leader simply smiled and nodded in response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be more Kyoko-centric stuff and actual character development soon I promise!


	4. Lunch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyoko leads a busy shift during lunch time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every job has a That Bitch Helen.

11:38 A.M. The restaurant buzzed with noise, as the lunch rush began it’s slow approach. Kyoko was leading the shift that Saturday morning, and paced from the drive-through to the front counter, eyes scanning for tasks that needed to be done before the store began to overflow with business. Everything seemed to be looking well, the shift would run smoothly. She especially trusted her set-up in the dining room, which consisted of Taeko as the hospitality lead, Chihiro as server, and Hina as a cleaner. Lead was a surprisingly good role for Taeko, seeing as it was less physical work and more telling everyone else what to do. Chihiro was the fastest server, and Hina knew how to multitask very well when it came to cleaning.

The shift leader had to admit that lunch shifts were always slightly nerve-wracking. The most perfectly assembled set-up could still be ruined by an unexpected influx of customers, a shortage in the kitchen, or three thousands other factors that remained out of her control but was blamed still, on her. However, she had become expert at taking these situations in stride. There wasn’t any use in getting worked up over it. Kyoko’s perfect calm was the main reason why she was a shift leader.

And that calm was tested. Severely tested. As Kyoko stood in the drive-through, bagging food for the dining room, something popped up in the corner of her eye. She glanced at the monitor above her, which listed orders to make, and one of them was a dark glaring green. It was a catering order. For 75 sandwiches. At 12:03. When the restaurant was flooded with people.

“Where is this catering order from?” Kyoko immediately asked another shift leader.

“I… I don’t know. I don’t remember having an event today.” Kyoko frowned deeply.

“I need to check the calendar.” She left the drive-through and walked to the back of the store, quickly unlocking the manager's office. She rushed inside and looked to the board, where they had a calendar posted of all events or large orders. Saturday was blank. As she turned to leave the office, someone was at the door.

Helen. Or a woman who was more affectionately known as That Bitch Helen. She was the marketing manager, the head of events and scheduling. The reason why she received such a nickname was because of her personality; she was quite rude and passive-aggressive towards coworkers, especially anyone with a position lower than hers. However, she was always cordial around customers and the store owners. A frown grew on Kyoko’s face at the sight of her. She knew what was about to happen.

“Helen,” Kyoko said, biting her tongue slightly. “We have a catering order for 75 sandwiches.”

“Oh, yeah!” The woman began with a laugh. “It was a little last minute, I was coordinating with the lady who wanted the order on and off all week! She wasn’t sure until last night, and it was a bit too late to bother whoever the shift leader was, you know?”

“We don’t have enough people in the kitchen to make the order and handle the rush that’s happening right now.”

“Oh, you’re leading? I was just planning to talk to you!”

“...you could have called this morning, so I would have enough time to ask for additional help.”

“I’m sorry sweetheart, I was busy. You can’t ask for help now?” Kyoko grit her teeth.

“I was going to.” The shift leader walked towards the door, and Helen entered the office. She made her way out and began to talk to the kitchen leader, to see if they could get anyone to come in as quickly as possible. She then rushed back to the front of the store, and saw the monitor with the orders. It was filled, and many of them were about to turn red, meaning the customers had been waiting for too long. Kyoko frowned deeply.

Taeko wandered around the dining room. The line had died down, but many customers sat at their tables or stood waiting for to-go orders. It was an odd stagnation, and many people stared down the workers in dining room, as if glaring at them caused the food to come out any sooner. The bell that alerted servers to food they had to deliver rung, and Taeko looked towards it. There was no food, just Kyoko, so she made her way over quickly, knowing she had something to say.

“Taeko, we’re having a delay in kitchen right now. If any customers begin to ask about their order, just let them know that we’re making them as soon as we can.” Kyoko’s tone changed none, but her expression betrayed her ever so slightly. Taeko could see her frown, the worry in her eyebrows. It was slight, undetectable by some, but she could tell that the shift leader was painfully stressed. Her eyes traveled over to the monitors behind Kyoko, which were a glaring red. She didn’t know the situation but worried for once in her work career, seeing as Kyoko wasn’t one to ever break face.

Taeko had to handle several annoyed customers. She hadn’t ever had the energy to deal with them as expertly as a Chick-Fil-A employee should, but she did give out free sandwich cards and apologize for the wait, by Kyoko’s request. Even more than that, several cars had to be parked because of food delays. For a good while, Taeko and Hina took over the task of serving food, as Chihiro ran back and forth outside to deliver bags to cars. Luckily, a milkshake burst on the floor of the dining room and Hina had to hurriedly clean it, as the store became infinitely busy. By the time the general crowd died down, all of the dining room workers still rushed about, making up for dirtiness, lack of stocking, and general chaos that had occured in the midst of the busyness. Taeko was horrified at having to work so much.

The drive-through was so nightmarish that a paragraph wouldn’t suffice in describing it’s chaos. An influx of tedious desserts, changed orders, and generally rude customers who wasted desperately needed time was enough to turn all of the monitors a bright, blinking red for an hour straight. Kyoko’s voice could’ve gone hoarse from the amount of times she uttered ‘park the car.’ Not to mention that dining room mistakes were her problem as well, and the drive-through floor was covered with dessert remnants and sauce packets that were unluckily stepped on. Kyoko took it all in stride, the only hint at her stress being the lack of smile and frequent sighing.

Once it was settled enough for coworkers to be able to speak to each other, Kyoko asked Taeko about the dining room tasks. Taeko watched her in concern, seeing as she looked more stressed than before, and assured Kyoko that everything would be taken care of. Hina, Chihiro, and Taeko all exchanged looks of general exhaustion, but kept moving, seeing as the quicker everything was back in order, the less work they had later.

* * *

3:01 P.M. The dining room was far from perfect, but much better than it had been an hour before. As Taeko thought about what she should do next, Leon appeared behind her.

“Hey Taeko! I’m taking over as lead, you should be off now.” Taeko lifted her head, frowning in exhaustion.

“...it’s 3:00?”

“Yeah!”

“Oh, thank the heavens.” Taeko untied the apron from around her waist, handing it to Leon. “It was incredibly busy today, so the dining room is a mess.”

“Well, it doesn’t look too bad right now. I’ll take care of the rest.” Taeko could only nod in reply in her numbing tiredness. She retired to the front counter and asked Kyoko if she could clock out, who nodded and handed her the card.

With a heavy sigh, Taeko took a graceful seat at one of the metal chairs of the outside tables, farthest from public sight. Her first course of action was burying her face in her hands and groaning softly. She had to admit that it wasn’t the most enjoyable shift in the world. In fact, it was far from it.

“Are you alright?” A voice came. Taeko lifted her head to see Kyoko, who was in the midst of pulling out a chair and taking a seat across from her. Her name tag was off and her bag at her side, frosted coffee in hand. She must have clocked out too.

“Oh, I’m quite fine. I was just… resting,” Taeko said, sitting up quickly.

“I see.” Kyoko went silent, staring down. There was a quiet fury that Taeko felt from her, and her attention was averted to the cup Kyoko had.

“I’m surprised, I know you enjoy coffee but I never see you get a dessert,” she said, looking at the frosted coffee.

“Hina suggested it when she took my order. I’ve never tried it. It’s… too sweet for me, however,” Kyoko murmured, with a frown. She sat with her arms crossed, eyeing the cup. “You like sweet things, right?” She received a nod in reply. “Did you want it? I don’t think I can drink it.” Taeko just stared in surprise. “I don’t want to waste it,” she said, sliding the cup over.

“Well, if it’ll only go to waste otherwise…” She accepted it and smiled. “Thank you, Kyoko.” The shift leader simply nodded in response and folded her arms, sitting back.

“...I know lunchtime was a bit much today.”

“It was, but things like that can’t be avoided,” Taeko said, trying the frosted coffee. She wasn’t fond of coffee, but she actually liked the dessert drink, the saving grace being the ice cream spun into it. Kyoko frowned at her words, watching the table. She spoke after a full minute.

“Unfortunately, it could have, this time around.” Taeko looked up at her quizzically. “There wasn’t time to explain, but we received an unexpected catering order. Essentially, the kitchen was understaffed and… we weren’t able to keep up with the amount of orders.” She frowned deeply and crossed her arms. Taeko was concerned at how troubled she looked.

“That’s terrible, I didn’t realize.”

“Yeah…” Kyoko uncharacteristically sighed, looking a bit sad for just a moment.

“But we did make it through the rush,” Taeko tried to reason. “We managed to recover eventually.”

“We did, but I would say the rush itself was unsuccessful. It’s disappointing, to say the least.”

“It was handled as well as it could’ve been with something so unexpected happening. Who put in the order?”

“...Helen.” Taeko immediately frowned. _That Bitch._

“Well, I’m not surprised,” she murmured, unable to hide her annoyance. Taeko was far from dumb, but Helen was the one person seemed to think otherwise. A bit unsuited for the job, maybe, but nowhere near incompetent. The woman’s rudeness was something Taeko couldn’t stand. But to some degree, she cared too little about the emotional matters of her job to do anything but want to roll her eyes at hearing Helen’s name. She didn’t, but Kyoko still looked up, slightly surprised at hearing exasperation in Taeko’s voice. The shift leader smiled a bit, understanding the sentiment.

“Neither am I. This has happened before… I just didn’t suspect it this time.”

“Then that settles it, right? There wasn’t anything else you could have done about it.”

“...I guess not.” Kyoko sighed softly, tension slightly leaving her. “It’s over now.”

“It is. Now we can relax.”

“Kyoko? Taeko?” Both turned their heads at the familiar sound of Chihiro’s voice. He was holding two trays. “Here’s your food for you!”

“Thank you Chihiro,” Kyoko said, accepting the tray.

“Yes, thank you.” Taeko did the same and Chihiro smiled.

“Did you guys need anything else?”

“I think we’re good.”

“Alright then, enjoy!” He ran off and the two watched, before they turned back to the table.

As they had their respective meals—Taeko’s being a fruit cup of just the mandarin oranges, while Kyoko had a market salad with no chicken—they spoke occasionally of small things: next week’s schedule, the nearby area, surviving college. The time in between that was enjoyed in relative silence; a nice, comforting quiet that offset the previous commotion of their shifts. The wind blew nicely outside, and they watched as coworkers outside handled the drive-through line, kitchen staff dumped the lunchtime trash, and customers filed in and out of the store in slow, separated motions. Kyoko could close her eyes for just a few moments. For once that day she felt calm and content, happily relaxed. She glanced at Taeko, whose presence she was a bit thankful for. For such a hectic day, its ending wasn’t quite that bad.


	5. Closing Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyoko, Taeko, and Hina handle the task of closing the store on a Saturday.

9:58 P.M. Hina was on window, Kyoko was bagging food, and Taeko was on the drive-through headset. The drive-through was empty at that point, the window closed, the three busy with various cleaning tasks. They talked to each other to fill the air with something besides the soft incessant jazz music from the dining room.

“I can’t believe we were this slow on a Saturday!” Hina exclaimed.

“As odd as it seems, we’re less busy around the winter holiday time,” Kyoko explained. “Perhaps everyone’s at home or out of town.”

“That could explain it,” Taeko mumbled, wiping down the ice cream machine. “It’s nice though. The lack of people.”

“I kinda agree!” Hina said as she jumped to grab a mostly-empty box of sauce high up on a drive-through shelf. “Especially because we’re a little understaffed tonight. There’s no front counter or dining room people.” Kyoko glanced into the front of the store, which was vacant of any sort of employees to take orders or clean or stock. The schedule had been very poorly made by a certain woman, leading to such a predicament. The shift leader could feel how deeply the front counter and dining room needed to be cleaned, and could only close her eyes and accept her fate of staying a while longer than anticipated.

“Helen,” was all Kyoko said. Everyone grumbled a bit.

“Oh.” Taeko heard beeping and turned around to the POS screen, glancing at the clock—9:59—and then pressed the button on her headset. “Hi, I’m Helen,” she began, her voice lifeless, if not also a bit annoyed. “What do you want?” Hina cracked a smirk and Kyoko tried to frown, but couldn’t. Once Taeko finished, she grabbed two cups and started filling them with shake base.

“You have to stop doing that,” Kyoko said, smiling.

“Why? I don’t believe it’s hurting anyone… except maybe Helen.” Kyoko stared and Taeko could feel eyes boring into her, even when turned around. “Alright, that will be the last time this week.” The shift leader frowned.

“This week…” Hina repeated with a laugh, before opening the window. “Hi! Just two large chocolate shakes? Alright, your total will be...”

“Taeko, as much as I appreciate your efforts, if Helen finds out… it won’t be pleasant,” Kyoko said as she placed a large fry on a plate. “Can you run this for me?” Taeko nodded and placed the shakes on the windowsill, before she took the plate.

“You’re right, that’s why I just won’t be found out.” Kyoko furrowed her brow at Taeko’s smile, as she left to the dining room for a few seconds.

“Thank you, have a good night!” Hina called to the guests driving off, before closing the window back. “It’s 10 o’clock now!”

“Oh, right.” Kyoko walked to the back and grabbed the key, going into the dining room and locking both entrances. She then dimmed all the lights and walked back into the drive thru area. “Hina, can I have you roll the mats and take trays in dining room?”

“Sure thing!” Hina ran off as Taeko returned, putting up the headset and hitting the wash setting on the ice cream machine.

“Closing with three people sounds like a lot of fun,” she murmured. Kyoko went silent for a few moments, before sighing.

“I know. We just have to be quick about it, and multitask as much as we can.” Workers in the kitchen turned on music to close with as Kyoko began to break down and clean the chutes separating the drive-through from the kitchen. Taeko continued in her task of cleaning the ice cream machine as Hina ran to the back to put away the trays and back to the front, hurriedly cleaning all of the booths in the dining room. Kyoko glanced around constantly as she worked, attempting to figure what all needed to be handled. As her eyes trailed the dining area, she paused at the sudden oversight directly across the room: the playground.

The playground at their Chick-fil-A was just as any other fast food playground—cursed. But this one in particular was very cursed. Haunted by the horrors of lunch and dinner rush, the staining presence of hundreds of children climbing around and screaming and fighting and ruining the area, and the hundreds of parents fondly watching them do so. There was some sort of energy inside of the area, closed away from the rest of the store. For years it had festered, and so any sane employee would feel themselves psychologically taunted when they stepped into the room, the door shutting behind them as a signal of their sealed fate.

Not to mention that the playground was designed for toddlers up to little kids; five or six years old at the most. This rule was never obeyed and older children constantly wreaked havoc, moreso than the toddlers. But worst of all was the fact that someone has to clean it. Every night. And seeing as most Chick-fil-A employees were adults or near adults, as far as they were concerned, most weren’t adept enough to fit inside of a slide meant for tiny children.

Except for Taeko, Kyoko thought. She grimaced, but Taeko was the second shortest person in the establishment, the first being Chihiro. And it was only her and Hina on this night. The shift leader felt bad, knowing that a piece of Taeko’s soul was lost every time she stepped into the room that transcended space and time, so cursed was its energy. She hated it more than Hina, but seeing as Hina was tasked to practice what she had been trained on earlier, Kyoko had no choice. The shift leader glanced at the drive-through, and already saw Taeko looking at her. She frowned.

“I have a feeling you know what I’m going to say,” Kyoko muttered. Taeko blinked, weary.

“...playgrounds?” she asked softly. Kyoko frowned even more, and Taeko closed her eyes for a minute.

“Dining room should have taken care of it but since we were understaffed there was no dining room after the dinner rush,” Kyoko explained hurriedly.

“That’s true… I don’t mind,” Taeko said, putting down the blue towel in her hand and walking over to the front counter sink, grabbing the cleaning supplies underneath.

“Thank you in advance. I’ll have Hina take care of the outside windows, so don’t worry about that.” Taeko nodded and trudged over to the playground. She hesitated slightly but entered the playground, placing all of her supplies on a seat inside. As the door shut behind her, she was surrounded by an energy she thought felt akin to an abandoned nuclear sight. That aforementioned piece of her soul broke away and vanished, as if Taeko could become any more dead inside. She grabbed the multi-surface cleaner and the coffee filters, before sighing and getting to work.

Kyoko walked back over to the drive-through, continuing to clean the chutes. Hina rushed through sweeping the dining room floors, and then resigned herself to the task of sanitizing drink machines. Any groans coming from the playground were contained within its glass walls, going unheard by any other soul. But Kyoko felt the slight creeping of Taeko’s anguish upon her neck. To preoccupy herself she continued closing tasks, absorbed entirely in each one. The only other thing she paid mind to was holding her conversation with Hina as they worked together.

“These fountains look horrible…” Hina complained. “Like they haven’t been cleaned all day!”

“Most likely not. When I came in everything was a bit of a mess, even with it being non-peak hour. Dinner wasn’t very busy, but I think the lunch rush was bad today.”

“I’m glad there was no last minute rush though! It sucks when a whole bunch of people come in before close.”

“It does. I remember once around thirty high schoolers came in at 9:30 because a basketball game ended.”

“Oh my gosh, that sounds terrible!”

“It was tough. But a few people stayed to help.”

“Oh good!” Hina ran to the back to fill a four quart container with sanitizer. Five minutes later, she returned to the front with it and began unscrewing the fountain caps. “Kyoko, you’re in school right?”

“...yes.”

“What are you going for?”

“Forensics, possibly.” The shift leader paused in her work. “I’m interested in detective work.”

“Ohhh that’s so cool though! I think it’s kind of fitting.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah! You’ve got the detective vibe, you know? Cool and quiet, and you always know what’s going on for some reason?”

“Well, I try. If something concerning happens without my knowledge it can cause problems for the shift.”

“See! You’ve already got it.”

“...thank you. But I think I’ll understand more once I get more involved with my major.” She resumed her work. “I believe you’ve said your passion was competitive swimming?”

“Yeah!! I love swimming, and I wanna get better and better at it! I hope I can be on a national team or something, you know?”

“Is that your goal? Something like the olympics?”

“Yeah, I guess so! It seems kind of far, but I think I can do it?”

“I’m sure you can, you seem like a very motivated person. I believe that if you put effort into something you can excel at it.”

“Oh, Kyoko…” Hina turned bright red. “That’s so nice of you! But how can you tell that?”

“It’s just a guess, but it’s based off of your work every day. That’s why I think that you would make a good certified trainer after you finish your own training.”

“Wait, really?” Hina turned to face Kyoko, who nodded at her. “Oh wow… that would be amazing!”

“The other shift leaders and managers think so too. We can discuss this further after you fully complete team member training.” Hina nodded vigorously and got back to work. The store was forty minutes into its close, and Taeko returned, looking expectedly disgruntled. She put away the supplies and sighed, the only relief being escape from the affliction that was the playground.

“Oh, Taeko! You’re back!”

“Thank you again, Taeko,” Kyoko said. Taeko nodded and smiled weakly, before returning to the ice cream machine and beginning to disassemble it. Her torment suffered in the playgrounds went unspoken of. “Since Taeko finished with playgrounds, it would be best to mop now, so it will be reasonably dry by the time we finish closing,” Kyoko said. Hina looked up and nodded, before rushing to the back to grab the mop bucket. Taeko watched her run off, and made eye contact with the shift leader. “I know that I’m asking a lot, but do you mind taking care of dishes, trays, and cleaning the front counter after you finish with the ice cream machine? I’ll take care of everything in drive-through.” 

“...of course not.”

* * *

11:45 P.M. Kyoko shut off the lights and set the alarm as they all left the building. They stepped out into the cold, staring into the mostly-empty lot, the only light being the red store sign softly gleaming above them.

“It’s ridiculous how long that took,” Taeko grumbled.

“I know. Since it’s a Saturday it always takes longer to close, and we didn’t have near enough people,” Kyoko said, softly sighing. “I’m sorry.”

“No, that isn’t your fault. We can all sleep with there being no work tomorrow.”

“I have swim practice at six…” Hina grumbled. “But that’s okay! I usually stay up till midnight on Saturdays anyway.”

“...I appreciate both of you helping close as quick as possible. It could have taken even longer than this.” Kyoko frowned, pulling on her jacket and glancing back at the store.

“Oh, you still need to check the perimeter, right?” Hina asked. The shift leader nodded.

“You should go home, Hina. It’s almost midnight,” Taeko said. “I’ll watch the front.”

“You sure?” Taeko nodded. “Okay, thank you! I’ll see you guys both Monday then?”

“Most likely,” Kyoko said, Taeko nodding in agreement.

“Alright then. Goodnight!” Hina practically bounded off to her car. She hopped in and quickly started it up, driving out of the lot with another wave goodbye towards them. They returned it, as the car disappeared and the lot grew dark again.

“I’ll be right back,” Kyoko said, walking off quickly. Taeko watched her leave and looked around with a sigh, before taking a seat. The metal of the chair was cold, but Taeko pressed her back against it anyway, as she sighed out the stress of the day. There was a constant chill in the air, so reminding it became comforting. Now that the store was pitch-black, the area all around was dark beyond the bright store signs and the bit of starlight in the air. The lot was filled with quiet, beyond the soft roar of cars far across the shopping center. Taeko sighed again. She could sleep right where she sat.

* * *

Five minutes after Hina’s departure, Kyoko reappeared from behind the store, walking cautiously as if she suspected a criminal around any corner. Her wariness dropped at the sight of Taeko, as she walked up to the table.

“Alright. We’re done for tonight.” She glanced up at the lot, which was entirely empty, besides her own car. “Do you have a ride home?”

“...yes,” Taeko replied slowly. Kyoko crossed her arms.

“In the next ten minutes?” Taeko frowned in thought for a second too long. “I can give you a ride home. It’ll be quicker.”

“No, I wouldn’t want to bother yo—”

“Please. I can’t just leave you out here alone. It’s dangerous, and cold.” Taeko stared. “I know you hate the cold. Come on.” Kyoko began walking toward the parking lot so Taeko stood up, grumbling and following. The two climbed into Kyoko’s car, and she quickly drove out of the parking lot, leaving it empty.

“...thank you, Kyoko,” Taeko said as Kyoko pulled into the street.

“Of course, I don’t mind. You said you live in Southwood apartments, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I live in the same direction, so that works out.” The two cruised through the series of red and green lights on the long road towards the apartments. A sigh couldn’t help but escape Kyoko’s lips. “It’s been a long day. I’m glad that it’s over.”

“Same here,” Taeko murmured. “It took a while to close.”

“It did. I’ve closed understaffed before, but… it was especially difficult with it being a Saturday.”

“It really was. I had to do playgrounds…” Taeko murmured, voice breaking slightly. Kyoko frowned. “I’ve done it before, but it’s never been so horrifying. Terrible atmosphere and terribly dirty.”

“I’m sorry. I know how much you hate it in there.”

“I really did lose some of my soul, Kyoko. I believe the last of its left in that jungle gym.” The shift leader tried her best to not smile in the face of Taeko’s tragedy. She was truly broken, completely devoid of life after this last visit with Chick-Fil-A's personal purgatory. Not that it changed anything. The light had left Taeko’s eyes long ago, the day she learned to make desserts.

“I didn’t mean to make you lose your soul…” She couldn’t help but feel somewhat bad. As dramatic and joking as Taeko was being, Kyoko knew it was for the sake of hiding her hatred of the task. “I’ll make it up to you,” she decided.

“Oh? You’ll take me for lunch?” Taeko asked with a laugh. Kyoko blinked.

“Tomorrow is Sunday… if you’re not busy, I’ll treat you.” Taeko stared at her in surprise, before she began to panic.

“Wait no, i-it’s fine, you don’t have to, I didn’t mean it...”

“I don’t mind. It would be nice, and… I do feel a bit guilty. This will be me making it up to you.”

“Kyoko, truly, you don’t have to go so far—”

“Do you know that building across the street from Chick-fil-A? It’s both a coffee shop and a restaurant.”

“Oh, yeah… I think I know the one.”

“It’s the perfect place to go around 10 am, if that’s alright with you?”

“That’s fine—wait, are you being serious?”

“Of course. Unless you’re busy?”

“I’m not, but… I mean…” Kyoko watched her with interest as Taeko fiddled with her jacket sleeves. “It’s fine. I don’t mind going there.”

“Hopefully you’ll enjoy it. They have good coffee, the tea should be good as well.” Taeko blinked, surprised at Kyoko recalling her preference of tea over coffee. But they did have an entire conversation during break once as Taeko begrudgingly drank coffee in attempts to stay awake after a long night, enduring it only when coupled with two times as much syrup as usual.

“I’m sure it will…” Taeko turned to stare out of the window, watching lines of houses and stores pass them. The lights ran over her sight in waves, alternating with the darkness of night, and she closed her eyes softly to the sound of the wind whipping past the window. There was a soft rumbling as the car passed over the gently jagged road. It rocked the car so nicely that Taeko hummed softly, already possessed with the trance of weariness, and felt inclined to close her eyes.

“Taeko...?” A voice alerted Taeko, coupled with a hand very gently touching her shoulder. She opened her eyes, slowly, feeling groggy with sleep. Wait... sleep?

“Hm?” Taeko sat up, finding herself still in Kyoko’s car. They were parked in a spot near a place she recognized as the front of her apartment complex. She blinked a few times in attempts to wake up. “Oh… oh I’m sorry Kyoko, I didn’t mean to fall asleep…”

“It’s fine,” she answered with a slight smile. “I worked you too much, I know.” She then looked out of the window. “I wasn’t sure where you lived.” Taeko followed her glance.

“Oh, right here is perfect. I don’t live far from this spot.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am. Thank you again, Kyoko. Truly.” Kyoko looked into Taeko’s smile.

“Of course.” Taeko gathered her bag and opened the car door, climbing out. “I’ll see you tomorrow at ten, then?” She turned around and smiled at Kyoko.

“Yeah, I’ll see you then… goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” The door shut and Taeko gave her a small wave, before disappearing down a poorly-lit sidewalk. Kyoko watched the darkness for a bit longer, before realizing she had a home. Straightening back up, she sighed and pulled out of the parking spot, making the short drive home and looking forward to tomorrow.


End file.
